The Tampa Bay Buccaneers put together their most complete game of the 2024 season in Week 15, resulting in a 40-17 momentum-boosting win over the Chargers in Los Angeles. A week after taking back first place in the NFC South, the Buccaneers held onto that spot even as the Atlanta Falcons also won in Las Vegas on Monday night. The overall situation remains the same: The Buccaneers have a one-game lead over the Falcons in the NFC South and need to maintain it in order to stay out of a tiebreaker given Atlanta’s head-to-head sweep.
Elsewhere, the NFC playoff race got even tighter in Week 15, at least at the top. Detroit’s loss to Buffalo allowed both Minnesota and Philadelphia to gain ground. The Vikings beat Chicago to catch the Lions at the top of the NFC North standings, and the Eagles won an in-state battle with Pittsburgh to keep the first-overall seed in play. The Lions, Eagles and Vikings are all now 12-2 in the top-heavy conference standings.
No NFC team has yet to clinch a division title, unlike the AFC in which three of the four divisions have already been decided. In fact, the Eagles are the only NFC team with more than a one-game lead in its division. There is, therefore, a lot to be decided in the Buccaneers’ conference over the final three weeks.
Looking ahead to Week 16, here’s how the NFC playoff race stands after 15 weeks:
- Detroit (12-2), NFC North Leader
The Lions maintained their spot atop both the division and the conference despite their loss, though both leads are now reliant on tiebreakers. The Lions have a head-to-head win over the Vikings, but that tiebreaker is purely theoretical since the two teams will meet again in Week 18. If Minnesota wins that game at Ford Field, the head-to-head tiebreaker would be rendered moot; in addition, Detroit only has a one-win lead over the Vikings in the next applicable tiebreaker, division record, so this could conceivably come down to record in common games. The Lions lost their first game since the Bucs beat them in Detroit in Week Two, but they didn’t exactly go down meekly, scoring touchdowns on each of their last four drives in a wild 48-42 shootout with the red-hot Bills. Before their final showdown with Minnesota, the Lions have road games remaining at two teams trending in the other direction, Chicago and San Francisco. The biggest problem for Detroit is a brutal string of injuries to their defense, including Week 15 blows to defensive lineman Alim…
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